Conventionally, a fishing reel constructed as described above is known as a double-bearing type reel. In detail, such conventional double-bearing reel is provided with a driving shaft, a spool shaft carrying a spool, a transmission mechanism having a main gear for transmitting a driving force from the driving shaft to the spool, a drag mechanism provided between the driving shaft and the main gear, and an anti-reverse rotation mechanism comprising a stopper gear and a stopper pawl engageable therewith for preventing reverse rotation of the stopper gear.
In such reel, the drag mechanism is adapted to adjust a dragging force by use of an adjustment knob or lever so as to prevent a break in the fishing line due to a pull force of a fish. The adjustment of the drag mechanism may be set at, e.g., by mistake or a choice of an angler, a value which overcomes the durability of the fishing line. Thus, in such case, when a hooked fish, which, for example, exerts a pull force overcoming the durability of the fishing line, abruptly pulls the line through such pull force, the line may be subjected to an excessive load overcoming the durability of the line to lead to a break in the line.
To solve this problem, a reel may be employed wherein the spool is supported freely rotatably to a spool shaft and wherein a shock absorber mechanism, which, for example employs a coiled spring, is interposed between the spool and the spool shaft in order to mitigate a shock due to an abrupt pull force on the fishing line by a fish. However, this construction is disadvantageous in that it is complex in comparison with the conventional reel wherein the spool is fixed to the spool shaft. Thus, the aforesaid construction is not satisfactory for solving the above-described problem.